*I’ll be out of town and away from computers for the weekend. Look for the next edition of Last Night’s Numbers on Monday.

Welcome to Last Night’s Numbers, a new daily feature where we run through the NBA games from the night before, highlighting one or two numbers I found particularly interesting from each game. Think of it as Kelly Dwyer’s Behind the Box Score from Ball Don’t Lie, except shorter, less informative, less informed, less witty, less enjoyable and less well written. All the stats are from Hoopdata’s box scores, which contain some additional advanced stats not available in traditional box scores.

Atlanta 94 – Detroit 85

Atlanta continued their trend of strong offensive efficiency, shooting 53.8% from the field for a 108.0 Offensive Rating. This was achieved despite turning the ball over on 16.9% of their possessions and only grabbing 3 offensive rebounds in the game.

Detroit shared the ball well, recording 21 assists with 6 different players handing out at least 3. However, they struggled to make shots, shooting only 40% from the field and making only 3 of 17 three pointers.

Boston 105 – Milwaukee 102

Andrew Bogut was 7 of 10 at the rim for Milwaukee. He was only 1 of 7 on his other shots inside of 10ft. However, it was a good sign for Milwaukee’s offense to see them attempt 32 shots at the rim last night as opposed to only 20 long jumpers.

John Salmons continued his bewildering offensive disapprearance. Salmons was 3 of 10 from the field and a -11 in his 25 minutes.

Boston passed the ball really well, recording 24 assists, which accounted for 64.9% of their made baskets. Rajon Rondo was responsible for 15 of those assists, 9 of which led to layups for the Celtics.

Dallas 102 – Denver 101

Carmelo Anthony did his job on the glass last night, grabbing 15 rebounds to go with his 20 points. He shot 8 of 19 from the field, but 11 of his 19 shots came from within 10ft., an encouraging sign for his shot discipline.

Despite Anthony’s efforts Dallas came away with a slight rebounding edge, grabbing 53.6% of available boards.

Jason Kidd totalled 12 assists, 5 of which led to long jumpshots courtesy of the hot shooting of Dirk Nowitzki and Caron Butler.

New Orleans 107- Houston 99

Houston remained winless, in large part because of their defensive woes. They allowed an offensive rating of 110.3 last night and gave New Orleans a FTR of 0.532. New Orleans picked up 17 more points than Houston at the free throw line, the winning margin and then some.

Houston’s big three of Scola, Brooks and Martin combined to commit 12 fouls in 98 minutes and post a combined -35.

New Orleans protected the ball in a big way, comitting turnovers on only 7.6% of their possessions.

Charlotte 85 – New Jersey 83

Charlotte did a great job finishing at the rim, making 12 of 19 there. If you take away Stephen Jackson’s three missed layups this number looks even better.

Brook Lopez spent a lot of time hovering on the perimeter for New Jersey, he was 2-9 on shots outside of 10ft. and only grabbed 5 rebounds.

D.J. Augustin deserves some credit in helping Charlotte to their first win. His shot wasn’t falling, as he was only 1 of 7 from the field, but he found other ways to contribute. He had 6 rebounds, 7 assists and a steal, without turning the ball over once. He was +3 during his 31 minutes.

Orlando 126 – Minnesota 86

Orlando had 15 blocks last night, helping Minnesota to a 17 of 46 shooting night inside of 10ft. The 15 blocks worked out to 17.8% of Minnesota’s shot attempts. Yowza!

The threes were falling for Orlando as they made 15 of 31, with 14 of them being assisted on.

Despite Kevin Love’s best effort the Wolves were dominated on the glass, grabbing only 41.7% of the available rebounds.

Indiana just couldn’t make a shot last night. Their starters were 16 of 59 from the field, and the team was 28 of 89 altogether.

Philadelphia was strong on the boards, grabbing 54% of available rebounds. Three different players had at least 9 rebounds for the 76ers.

Elton Brand must have found a time machine in the locker room before the game, because he scored 25 points on a 69.1% TS%, to go along with 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and no turnovers. It is incumbent on Brand to share his time travel method for the good of the scientific community and the world at large.

Utah 125 – Toronto 108

Toronto did a terrific job getting to the line, with a FTR of 0.532. However, they couldn’t overcome their average shooting or atrocious defense.

Utah’s offense finally seems to be clicking. They posted an Offensive Rating of 121.4. They also shot 56.5% from the field and recorded an assist on 62.5% of their made baskets.

Deron Williams had 14 assists for Utah, 11 of which led to either a layup or three pointer.

*As of 11:25 mountain standard time today, Hoopdata doesn’t have box scores available for the other four games from last night. If he box scores come up later today I’ll try to add them on to this post.

3 responses to “Last Night’s Numbers – 11/4/10”

Milwaukee is experiencing a full year of Salmons, as opposed to his traditional spring improvement. I don’t know why he can’t get going earlier in the year, but Bulls fans know all about it. It’s a little gratifying, truthfully, because Milwaukee fans were gloating about stealing him from us last February, just as we gloated about stealing him when we got him the previous February. Fall Salmons is not spring Salmons. If they can make it into the playoffs, though, he is likely to be much better by then.

Leave it to Minnesota to keep trying to finish in the paint. It’s not like Howard is the best shot-blocker in the league or anything.

Maybe Skiles should put Salmons on the bench for a while because that Bucks team has talent. Skiles is the perfect coach for Brandon Jennings. The youngster has talent but needs a mentor. Skiles will teach him how to carry a lunch pail.